Friday, December 16, 2005

Question Authority

Relativists use this admonition to encourage people to deny (question) absolute truth (authority). When relativists become scientists, the scientific method gets turned on its proverbial head and becomes a practice in subjective argument instead of objective testing. Relativists are, by nature, naturalists. To say that there is anything that transcends the natural world is to say that there is something absolute - or at least more absolute than one's own opinion. After all, the reason for being a relativist is to delude oneself into thinking that one is morally autonomous in order to justify doing what is generally understood to be wrong.

Such people with this warped philosophical mindset who study and achieve positions of authority in the scientific community do so without a proper understanding of the scientific method. The scientific method, built on transcending principles of objective logic is anathema to the relativist scientist. Therefore, he must develop a scientific method philosophy that excludes possibilities he doesn't want to consider. Sometimes (and more often than we realize) relativist scientists falsify aspects of their research.

While this is merely anecdotal it happens not infrequently. For example, one piece of evidence missing from evolutionary theory, and the geological strata, is commonly known as the “missing link”. Bones of post-ape, pre-human beings simply have not been found. Nearly all of the big finds that purport to be indicative of the missing link have either been proven outright hoaxes or extreme extrapolations on a miniscule piece of evidence. This is why Kathy Martin of the Kansas State Board of Education says that she “wants more information about materials that deal with critical analysis of evolution,” and that the state should “provide leadership for teachers looking to teach the controversial issue objectively."

When the relativists say “question authority”, they mean to deny absolute truth. When those who hold to transcendent truth say, “question authority”, they mean to encourage people to question their deeply held beliefs for the purpose of ridding oneself of false beliefs and strengthening true ones. This creates a framework of understanding against which information can be tested and absorbed and a person can develop in wisdom. A good scientist will focus on the scientific process and accept the results he gets within a reasonable margin of error. The Christian faith is not a blind faith; it is a faith of sight and reason. Our God is the God of reason and we should not fear the results of disciplined and ethical scientific endeavor, even if it means that we must discard a belief that we find to be wrong.